Day 24

Day 24

Still in London, I went to the Natural History Museum to see the human fossils there (if there were some), as I am tracing human history, and specially concerning the Neanderthal that supposedly been the first human to settle Britain.

But before get there, I had the chance to see the “Roman” house at Lower Grosvernor Garden, and realized, there is actually two of those houses there, but no explanation of what it is at all. There’s no much reference of it nowhere, even at the internet. Maybe they are not so important.

NATIONAL HISTORY MUSEUM

From Grosvernor I made my way to the Museum, which was really crowded. Probably is like that everyday, because there were nothing exceptional, just lots of kids, and security counters.

I could find easily what I was looking for, a small summary on record fossils of the human evolution, from the apes to the other extinct humanoids. It was a clear approach, showing most of the features and the way it changed during millions of years.

I must return to this theme, as I am reading a lot about it now, and the theme is fascinating. How we became humans and what does it mean that. I think it used to be theme of more zealous debate, apart of the religious approach, of course. But by fossil evidence it’s been possible for scientists make a lot of assertions and hypotheses too.


The main investigation on the fossil records of the museum is what makes us humans and which features we share with which of member of the family. The main idea is trace back the fossil features and placing them in a family tree, distinguishing the closer and far relatives amongst the big apes we take part.

proconsul africanus

proconsul's jaws, note the advanced tooth and the big molar

sivapithecus sivalensis

another sivapitecine

The Sivapitecines lived around 14 and 8 million years ago. the hard enamel teeth suggest they are related with homo sapiens family. Their fossils were found in Turkey and in South Asia.

paranthropus family

australopithecine family

paranthropus

The Paranthropus had strong jaws and were found to live in East african savannas. It had strong jaws to chew dried leaves, but his brain were not so big. It was possibly easy prey for other animals.

australopithecine family

australopithecus reconstituition

The Australopithecus They have been confounded with the Paranthropus family, and must have lived 3.9 million years ago in Ethiopia. They are considered the commun ancestral of the genre Homo and Paranthropus. Their brain size was 35% smaller than the Homo, don't had fire and their hability with tool should not be any greater than any chimp.

austraslopithecine jaw

plesianthropus transvaalensis also called australophitecus africanus are mainly found in the transvaal area, near pretoria

lucy

the homo habilis

The homo habilis lived in Rift valley in Tanzania around 2.5 to 1.5 million years ago and were probably the first creatures to use tools, which make them closer to men in the evolutionary scale. It were found stone tools related with animal butchery. As some of the tools do not relate with the stone from the surroundings it is imagined they would carry it with them.

homo georgicus, the first homo found outside africa

homo fiorensis from java

neanderthal or homo neanderthalensis

The Homo Neanderthalensis were close human relatives that lived together with the Homo Sapiens for some time. They had stone tools, burials for their dead, large brains and their traces could be found in whole Europe. They became extinct around 22.000 years ago, but there is no indication of violent conflicts between the Neanderthals and Humans. Their language apparently were much less developed than the Homo Sapiens.

neanderthal and human skulls together

Neanderthal skulls

The Cro Magnon is considered a Homo Sapiens Sapiens, and were the first human to reach Britain when it wasn't an island yet. With the end of the Ice Age, drastic changes took place in Britain, in a span of a few years. England became an island, and lost a lot of ground to the sea. Scotland defrost and a significant area of it raised from the sea. Forests grew and new specimens appeared and other became extinct. The Cro Magnon must have been in contact with other Sapiens that reached Britain by boat in the end of the Ice Age. This was a time of significant development in human culture.
It is uncertain exactly when modern humans appeared in Britain, but there's no evidence of their presence before the 29.000 BC, and older remains than those of the "red man" in Wales.

cro magnon skull

ceremonial burials is an human caracteristic

art is considered an human atributte

modern human skull

The modern humans are quite like we are when you compare their brain size, head format, habilities with tools, and some aspects of the culture. They were hunter gatherers, they had fire technology, and made burials for their dead. It would take thousands of years before metal intruments or agriculture arrive in Britain.

This small chart helps to summarize the early human development, I got in this site

COMMON NAME HISTORICAL NAME DATE RANGE

Old Stone Age Lower Palaeolithic 350,000 - 70,000 BC

Middle Palaeoloithic 70,000 - 30,000 BC

Upper Palaeolithic 30,000 - 10,000 BC

Middle Stone Age Mesolithic 10,000 - 4,000 BC

New Stone Age Neolithic 4,000 - 2,500 BC

Bronze Age 2,500 BC - 800 BC

Iron Age 800 - 43 AD

In general it can be accepted human presence in Britain from the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic onward. This corresponds to the Ice Age, and the life conditions in this time must have been harsh. The end of the Upper Palaeolithic and the Middle Stone Age corresponds to the very beginning of the agriculture, which must have reached England around the New Stone Age. The first farmers in Britain were responsible for the Burial Chambers and most of the Calendary Monuments erected. It was when time counting and burial ceremonies were most important. That's when the forests started to be cleared for agriculture.

I found a book from an author that interests me, Jared Diamond, called “The Rise and Fall of the Third Ape”, and it is one of the many I got to read...

From the museum, I went to visit the Alfred and Victoria Collection, but I could not enjoy much really. My head was really miles away.

MITHRAS TEMPLE IN LONDON

After a brief lunch I headed for the Mithras Temple, the remains of an Roman temple that was found in 1954, during an excavation to the construction of Bucklesburry House. The remains were transported to the site where it is now, at Queen Victoria Street, and reconstructed as it appeared when was found, 18 feet below the new site.

Temples to Mithras were typically built underground, or in a cave, or under an existing building. They were intended to symbolise the cave where Mithras killed the primordial bull and released powers of life and creativity to the world. The temples of Mithras have no windows, and have two side benches, where people would sit and take a ritual meal.

The worship to Mithras was usual amongst the roman troops, and inicially came from Persia. It is considered now an iniciatory order, with seven ranks. The rite would change according with the place where it was practiced. In some places there are records of women taking place of the cult.

There is no original Mithraic text remaining, and most of what we know about come from a papyrus from the 4th century.

The Temple dates back the 2^nd century and is very simple: rectangular shape, with two corridors sided by columns, no more than 6x 18 meters, an altar in the back with a rounded apse behind it. The Mithras shows how the Roman buildings were built, with strong structure. It was probably demolished in one of the several London raids after the 5^th century, by the Normans, the Anglo Saxons, the Danes... Sometimes brick and stone were important material to build other houses or monuments.


And then after some London slow traffic (it takes ages to go from place to place) back home.